Surviving the Holidays: How-To Guide

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wheird
wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Many people who are trying to lose weight dread the holiday season because of the plethora of sweets and carb-laden goodness. They try to figure out ways to minimize the damage by substituting foods, avoiding social events, or taking handfuls of diet pills.


But really...why bother? The holidays are supposed to be a time of enjoyment and most of us grew up eating our favorite dishes and treats around this time. There are 365 days in a year and two, three, or even ten days of overeating is not important in the face of the rest of those 355 days.

So eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy those awkward moments at the family dinner table and hit it hard after the season is over!

Bonus points if you hit 10,000 calories in a day.

Replies

  • STC1188
    STC1188 Posts: 101 Member
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    Amen! Especially if you diet 80% of the time, the holidays will offer a valuable reprieve that is not going to undo all that progress. Eat, drink, be merry! Your body, mind, friends, and family will all thank you for it!
  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
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    Srsly, the only vegetables I intend to eat will be in mashed, casserole, or pie form.
  • JL2513
    JL2513 Posts: 867 Member
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    I agree! May as well enjoy the good times. I am fully intending to enjoy all the good food and festivities. That being said, I am prepared to give myself a bit of a buffer to offset the potential weight gain that comes with feasting before everything starts :) Extra motivation to work a little harder just before the holidays! I'm quite excited for Christmas this year because this will be my first as the slimmer me :)
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
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    So true! Relax, it's called a holiday for reason. Just don't make everyday a holiday, lol. Last year I logged everything I ate for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I reveled in the numbers. Sometimes when I was bored, I would go back and look at the HUGE spikes in my reports. I didn't gain except from sodium which went away after about two days. It was fabulous!:drinker:
  • JL2513
    JL2513 Posts: 867 Member
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    So true! Relax, it's called a holiday for reason. Just don't make everyday a holiday, lol. Last year I logged everything I ate for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I reveled in the numbers. Sometimes when I was bored, I would go back and look at the HUGE spikes in my reports. I didn't gain except from sodium which went away after about two days. It was fabulous!:drinker:

    Haha, love this! I know what you mean by your amusement with the huge spikes.
  • gamerkiwi
    gamerkiwi Posts: 93 Member
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    Bonus points if you hit 10,000 calories in a day.

    Now you're making me wanna log my calories that day just to see if I can.

    Really, I'm going to use it as fuel to lift extra heavy on the next week. Lifting always makes me feel good after a binge.
  • drenergy
    drenergy Posts: 112 Member
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    I have plans to run 8 miles on the morning of Thanksgiving and then I'm going to EAT EVERYTHING!!

    I mean seriously, even if I REALLY put it away, I can't eat more than 3500 calories. That's one pound. I usually eat at a little bit of a deficit and then don't track too close for the weekend, and that makes me maintain. So if I follow my usual pattern, but keep calories a little lower than usual for the weekend before and after, I'll come out even.

    That said, I love black bean brownies, and mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. Mmmmm :)
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
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    Bonus points if you hit 10,000 calories in a day.

    Now you're making me wanna log my calories that day just to see if I can.

    Really, I'm going to use it as fuel to lift extra heavy on the next week. Lifting always makes me feel good after a binge.

    Do it! Feed the burn!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I lost a good chunk of my weight from mid Sept through the New Year last year...I definitely enjoyed my holidays...I know I hit around 9,000 - 10,000 at Christmas. I was out of town for Thanksgiving and din't log, but it was the usual. This hindered my progress NOT at all. It was two days out of many days. I didn't use the entire two months to go crazy, but those two days were as epic as ever. I did a Turkey Day 5K on Thanksgiving itself and actually didn't do **** for working out the entire week of Christmas because I got sick right after Christmas day with some kind of nasty head cold. All was fine.
  • Erica_theRedhead
    Erica_theRedhead Posts: 724 Member
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    One or two days of this won't hurt anybody...

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  • Happymelz
    Happymelz Posts: 536 Member
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    I realized this morning that starting this weekend I have at least 1 and sometimes 2 Holiday events every weekend between now and the new year. EVERY year I give up around Thanksgiving and gain 7 lbs. EVERY year.
    This year I've decided that I'm going to stick to my plan and exercise on days that don't involve a party/social event.
    I hope to lose 3 lbs between now and January 2nd.
    If I lose more, great.
    If not, then at least I kept track and didn't gain 7. :)
  • loriq41
    loriq41 Posts: 479 Member
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    Many people who are trying to lose weight dread the holiday season because of the plethora of sweets and carb-laden goodness. They try to figure out ways to minimize the damage by substituting foods, avoiding social events, or taking handfuls of diet pills.


    But really...why bother? The holidays are supposed to be a time of enjoyment and most of us grew up eating our favorite dishes and treats around this time. There are 365 days in a year and two, three, or even ten days of overeating is not important in the face of the rest of those 355 days.

    So eat, drink, be merry, and enjoy those awkward moments at the family dinner table and hit it hard after the season is over!

    Bonus points if you hit 10,000 calories in a day.
    Love this..just trying to wrap my mind around letting up a bit food wise..but I will because I have honestly been looking forward to Thanksgiving for three months! lol

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